By BASHIR ADEFAKA
A paramount traditional ruler in Kogi State, Northern Nigeria and the Ohinoyi of Ebira land, His Royal Highness Alhaji AbdulRahman Ado Ibrahim, has passed on.
The Ohinoyi was 94 years eight months 22 days as of the time he died in the early hours of Sunday October 29, 2023 after a brief illness.
The DEFENDER gathered that he will be buried same day according to Islamic rites.
This online newspaper reports that late Ado Ibrahim ascended the throne as the Ohinoyi of Ebira Land, after the reigns of his predecessor, late Alhaji Sanni Omolorim, who reigned between 1957 through 1997.
Born February 7, 1929 – October 29, 2023, His Royal Highness Alhaji AbdulRahman Ado Ibrahim was the fourth traditional ruler and second Ohinoyi of Ebira Land, an Emirate of Northern Nigeria with Okene as its traditional headquarters.
He was son of the second Attah (now Ohinoyi) of Ebira Land, Ibrahim Onoruoiza, from the Omadivi Ruling Family, who reigned from 1917 to 1954.
Ibrahim’s journey began on February 7, 1929.
His educational path encompassed a fusion of Western and Qur’anic teachings.
He commenced his primary education in 1940 at the Native Authority (NA) primary school in Okene, Northern Region (now Kogi State).
Subsequently, he pursued his secondary education at Ondo Boys High School before transferring to Oduduwa College, where he graduated in 1949. In 1954, he earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the London School of Economics, followed by a master’s degree from Harvard Business School in 1959.
Following the demise of Ohinoyi Sanni Omolorim of the Oziada clan in 1997, AbdulRahman Ado Ibrahim, a Lagos-based entrepreneur, ascended to the Okene throne as the second Ohinoyi or the fourth independent traditional ruler of Ebiraland on June 2, 1997.
An exceptional achievement during his reign was the construction of the Azad Palace, named in honour of one of his sons, widely acclaimed as one of the most stunning palaces in West Africa.
One of Ibrahim’s children, Prince Malik Ado-Ibrahim, emerged as presidential candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) as of January 7, 2023, signaling a remarkable extension of his family’s influence in Nigerian politics.
